Frustrating Fliers

As discussed on an earlier forum about seating next to the lands, I climbed the ladder and found that the top of the ladder was a 62 grain charge of IMR4831 for my 7RM (168 VLD's). I then worked to vary the seating depth and found that this charge was most accurate when the bullet was jammed into the lands. In a 5 shot grouping at 300 yards I am able to put 4 bullets in a 2" group, but I am getting one flier 4" outside the group regularly. Any thoughts? Neck tention issues? I noticed that the thickness of my neck casings vary (just by eyeballing it). Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Do you know which shot it is that is drifting out of the group?...if its the first, it could be something as simple as torque on the front action screw...it could also be a barrel heat issue..are you firing five quick enough to heat the barrel up?...if you are getting four out of five where you want them consistantly, statistically it is improbable that it is your handloading...it is more than likely an equipment or operator malfuntion..lol..

What primer are you using? If you are using 215s try something cooler.

What brass are you using. Mark the pieces that had fliers and see if they will consistently cause fliers. Funny story about me doing that and my daughter shooting a f-class match and getting irritated that the marked pieces were giving her low scores. After that I didn't test brass during matches.

Yeah, I am using the Fed 215 mag primers. I have regular CCI200 primers I could use, but I was told that they might not burn hot enough to ignite well in weather below 20 degrees (which I often hunt in). I was also resting the front sandbad on the barrel...could have this have caused the problem?
I don't know which exact shots were "flying" but I will start marking the casings and check each shot (no spotting scope so a lot of walking). I am also getting velocities that swing in a range of about 80f/s with these charges. Is that a normal swing? With a swing this wide, will I ever be able to get really accurate shots consistantly?

No, I'm not crimping, but the rifle has only had about 50 rounds through it and I haven't done anything special (other than shoot it) to break it in properly. Plus I use a snake bore for cleaning and haven't run a patch with bore cleaner through it. I've heard that the vel will settle down once broken in. Anything special I need to do?

honestly, i have never put much stock into the whole barrel break in hoop-la...i figure the more a cleaning rod goes in the barrel, the higher chance of the crown getting damaged..i use a bore snake and if the barrel warrants a good cleaning, ill plug the bore with an ear plug wrapped in a rubber glove and fill the barrel with hoppes, let it sit overnight, then run a length of 550 cord through the barrel with a patch tied on, followed by the bore snake...but once again...if four out of five consistanly hit the mark, then i believe it is the gun..is the barrel free floated..if not, you may be putting pressure on the barrel in an inconsistant manner, thereby causing the barrel harmonics to change..you may be holding harder on the first shot and letting up as you accustom to the recoil..or tightening your hold as your shoulder starts to pound...check your action screws and make sure they are torqued down to specs..i had a rifle that would send the first shot 4 inches high at 100 yards and settle down to a tigh sub moa group for the following four..turns out the front action screw was torqued about 15 inch pounds to light, and that was enough to seat the action with the first shot..once i picked the rifle up off the rest, it would move back...try the simple stuff first and try not to change too much at once or you wont know what fixed it...also, and i think it is an outside chance, but check your COL before firing..loading into the lands is fine for some, most of my hunting guns like a little jump, but i have noticed that when processing brass, i get bored very quickly, and this leads my mind to wander and i have more than a few pieces of brass that are different lengths..this leads to COL's that arent always the same and more importantly, the pressure differences between some of my loads due to inconsistent seating depth have caused more than a few fliers..i know its a lot to digest but this is why we chase that magic load right..its fun..when evrything works...when it doesnt, its almost as enjoyable as stapeling scorpions to my testicles...lol...